Tascam 388 mixing questions

[sublemon]

Hi, I am new to the TapeOp boards, but I would say I am a moderately experienced amateur recordist, well a semi noob I guess. Anyway, I have a tascam 388 (all the VU meter lights work, but of course it has some other issues). I have used the 388 on and off over the years, mostly for demos, but at least one released project was partially recorded on it (the Snow Fairies - Get Married CD). In that case we recorded the drums and bass and maybe a bit of guitar and then it was dumped to pro tools for additional tracks and mixing. That was fun, I would probably do that every time, but the pro tools set up wasn't mine. If interested I could probably post some of the tracks. I didn't do all the engineering, but some of it, and the mixing, etc. I would say the overall aesthetic for it was "random"...

So, I was wondering what other 388 users here do for final mixing from the 388? What is the best way to deal with effects and such? In the past I have not been a big effects user, maybe just a little echo in the 388's limited effects loop, but I was wondering if there is anyway to make it more flexible, mix different effects on different channels, etc. My plan is to mix directly off of the 388, into a 24/96 adc and then dither it down onto a CD recorder. Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks

g

[E.Bennett]

if i'm remembering correctly, the 388 has inserts on every channel. those will allow a great deal of flexibility. i don't see the advantage of recording a stereo file at a higher sample rate just to down sample in the next step, but do whatever you find works best in your setup. the 388 is great. have fun.

[shedshrine]

Deleted my initial attempt at a response, but the 388 has all kinds of routing.
Don't know if you've got the manual as it has great diagrams for routing. This one gives a very clear scan .
http://www.softwaredriverdownload.com/d ... anual.html

[sublemon]

I have to check on who to use the inserts properly with my limited outboard gear. Actually I think they are called Access Send and Receive on the 388? I guess I wasn't sure if these are in line during remix or not?

As for recording the stereo master out at 24/96 and then dropping it down to CD, well the higher sampling probably does nothing but the higher bit rate theoretically allows better noise shaping/dither which *could* increase the subjective dyanmic range of the final CD. I have a Meridian mastering processor that seems to have some beneficial effect...

Also, any suggestions for a channel that won't record? My number 3 channel seems to be out, but it works fine in remix.

Thanks

g

[the velour fog]

if channel 3 works fine in remix you can always record to track 3 from any other channel. you'll only have 7 channels at a time to record with, but you'll still be able to fill all 8 tracks.

[sublemon]

Hey, thanks for the suggestions on this folks. I was able to fix it myself fortunately (I posted this in response to another thread where someone had a similar problem, but I will put it here as well). In my case, no audio would record to track 3 regardless of which input i was using. Nothing would ever get to tape on track 3

What I did was, I played with the pgm fader for the odd channels while recording to the bad track (move it around, wiggle, press on it). In my case I could hear it was not recording and see no action on the channel three meter while recording or just in record mode with no actual tape spinning, but when pressing down on the fader I got signal. Turns out the little contacts were not making good contact with the track in the fader. So, turn the deck up on its side, open up the back (be careful not to tip over!), pull the fader. Pry open the tabs that hold the fader together and look at the little contacts (there are 4 sets in the slider, 1 for each odd channel. If I recall, you will see 3 little contacts for each channel, two kind of down and one raised up. In my case I just bent the two that were down a bit more down so they would make a better contact with the contact track. Now it records perfectly. Sorry not to be to technical with the part names, but if it is a fader issue, you can probably fix it. Once you take the fader apart it is pretty obvious how it works. You might similarly check the track 3 fader itself, or the stereo master fader if you have a similar issue

thanks

g